Jimba-Jimba Ghost
“…my blood go cold when I see him or hear him night time…”
From “The Northern Times” newspaper, 1981:
Several kilometres west of the Gascoyne Junction township, within sight of the Kennedy Ranges, and slightly north of the main track, is the old Jimba-Jimba Station homestead.
Many Aborigines are reluctant to venture too near the historic house (circa 1878) because it is said to be haunted by a ghost.
While some hardy souls snigger in disbelief at the resident spectre, others claim to have experienced sightings of an apparition, or to have heard unexplained sounds and weird noises.
In the homestead kitchen, some state, the Jimba-Jimba ghost has left behind evidence of his visits by scattering lumps of butter about the floor, or showering flour around during the wee small hours of the night, making an unsightly mess.
While people were asleep, the ghost had the unnerving habit of rattling stones down the roof, knocking on doors or dropping tins and cutlery – anything to disturb or terrify the occupants.
A former Aboriginal stockman said: “I don’t like working at that place no more. That ghost thing they got there make my blood go cold when I see him or hear him night time.”
Some Aboriginal people believe the Jimba-Jimba ghost to be the agitated spirit of an ancient tribesman whose grave was inadvertently covered by the homestead in the early days.
“Them old fellas get upset if someone play about with their graves or bones, and they make a lot of trouble and try to frighten us away,” the stockman explained. “Them old Yammatjis (Aborigines) don’t scare white people much, but they scare us properly.”
Strangely, when the Jimba-Jimba ghost first started to make nocturnal appearances around the shaded verandahs of the homestead, the station dogs alerted one and all to its presence with their excited barking and howling.
Then, without any rational explanation, the dogs went quiet.
Did they learn to recognise the “ghost”? Or were the mutts bribed with a juicy ‘roo steak?
On one occasion a couple of white stockmen decided to exorcise the ghost once and for all.
Waiting patiently in the dark, when they heard indications of the first disturbance, they switched on all the lights.
The ghost fled into the night.
Examining tracks in the early morning, it was learnt that the mysterious visitor invariably strapped the boots to his feet back to front!
Some time later the “ghost” re-visited the Jimba-Jimba kitchen at night to create further mischief.
On this occasion he bumped into a huge Aboriginal woman who grabbed hold of him and tried to wrestle him into submission, over-turning the furniture as they struggled together.
At last the “ghost” wriggled free of the woman’s grasp and successfully escaped into the bush.
Out of it all at last emerged two theories.
One group believed the intruder to be an Aboriginal who had been bribed to scare the collected pants off the Viveash family who owned the station at the time.
Another group thought the “ghost” was a white man out to play a joke on the Jimba-Jimba household, for some reason best known to himself.
Whatever the truth, there are still many people around the Gascoyne country who still believe a ghost haunts the Jimb-Jimba homestead and under no circumstances would they ever entertain the thought of camping a single night under its roof.
COMMENTS
I have lived at Jimba Jimba Homestead since 1985 and have not seen any sign of ghosts, its actually a lovely place to grow up!!
G-glad t-to hear it, m-m-mate.— William Baston · 3 03 2008 - 08:33 · #